Unlock your Nexus 6 & 9 Bootloader through Developer Settings

We’re still digging through Android 5.0 Lollipop and we just noticed that you are able to unlock the bootloader through the Developer Settings instead of going through the bootloader, like we’ve had to do before, and typing in “fastboot oem unlock”. Which I’m sure most of you Nexus users all know by heart right about now. In Lollipop, Google has changed that. You can now unlock the bootloader straight from the Developer Settings. It’s as easy as ticking a box in the Developer settings.

But remember, to get to developer Settings you need to go into Settings > About Phone > and tap on Build number about 9 times to open up developer settings. Then go into Developer Settings and turn on the Developer Settings, then you’ll need to check the “Enable OEM Unlock”. Now on this review unit that I have here, it was checked automatically. So that might or might not be the case for everyone.

Now there’s both good and bad things here about this. It means that you can easily unlock your bootloader and lock it back. But it also means that for those that unlock the bootloader before logging into their accounts, you’ll need to login, unlock the bootloader and then login all over again. On the good side, it is a bit more secure, which is great. As Android hasn’t always been that secure, and people are always worried about unlocking their bootloader. But they shouldn’t be anymore.

So there’s that. Lots more coming from Android 5.0 Lollipop in the coming days, so make sure you stay tuned to Android Headlines for all the details. We still diving into this new OS and there’s a ton of new goodies here, but the best part is the transitions. Let us know if you find anything new in Lollipop that we should cover, in the comments below.